U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Conservation in
Transition
Leading Change in the 21st Century
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Conservation in Transition: Leading Change in the 21st Century / 1
Foreword
Dealing with changing climate requires
willingness and ability to think about
and approach conservation in new
ways. Our “marketplace” is now global.
Our conservation target — once as
simple as protecting and managing
parts and pieces — is now as complex
as sustaining systems and functions,
species and populations at global
scales. We must understand climate
change as an overarching challenge
that requires us to reconsider every
aspect of organizational and program
operations and performance. We cannot
face this challenge by simply repeating
the conservation successes of the past.
We must rapidly develop the capacity to
envision and deliver conservation across
connected networks of habitats, based on
scientific understanding and predictions
of species’ needs. We know what needs to
be done, and we know it will be difficult.
The key ingredient is leadership with a
vision that is equal to the challenges of
the 21st century.
We must embrace
and lead change,
not just within
ourselves and our
organization, but
across the entire
conservation
community.
american fish and wildlife conservation
took root and flourished during
the 20th century, organizing around
component pieces of the ecological
landscape — land, water, coast,
ocean, forest, range, fish and wildlife.
Conservation professions and
organizations emerged from these
demarcations and have served well in
facing issues that are largely local and
confined within jurisdictional boundaries.
But as the human enterprise has
grown from local to regional and now
global scales, conservation challenges
such as poorly planned development,
habitat fragmentation, pollution and
water scarcity have also increased.
The complexity and scale of today’s
conservation problems are challenging
the existing organizational and
professional frameworks within which
the conservation community operates.
Now, climate change is accelerating the
need for change in our conservation
professions and organizations.
Coordination can no longer be our
goal; we must recognize the need for
working beyond our boundaries and
accept interdependency as an organizing
principle. We must embrace and lead
change, not just within ourselves and
our organization, but across the entire
conservation community. As we approach
a governmental transition, the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service is positioned to be
a catalyst for a new and promising era
of conservation.
i n S i d e
Introduction / 2
Forces of Change / 4
Vision for the Future / 6
Building Capacity / 10
Moving Forward / 12
Frank peTers
jane peLLICCIoTTo
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introduction
as an agency, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service traces its origins
to a point nearly two decades before
the closing of the American Frontier. In
1871, with the establishment of the U.S.
Commission on Fish and Fisheries, the
idea of fish and wildlife conservation as
a right and proper federal government
endeavor found its first public expression.
That idea framed our beginning, and
from the beginning there was change.
At the dawn of the 20th century, leaders
solidified the notion of conservation
as a fundamental public service,
providing a powerful vision of public
trust that would guide development of
the nation’s private, state, tribal and
federal conservation infrastructure. Soon
thereafter, in the midst of the first global
conflict, we would enter into a treaty
with Great Britain for the conservation
of migratory birds. And later, from the
social, economic and ecological turmoil of
the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression,
other visionary commitments would
emerge: secure funding to build state
capacities and reestablish depleted
populations of wildlife; a collaborative
system to regulate the hunting of
migratory waterfowl on continental
scales; a system of national wildlife
refuges; the Endangered Species Act;
and many others. Alongside our state and
other conservation partners — notably
hunters, anglers, birders and citizen
conservationists — we have proudly
met the 20th century’s conservation
challenges. Our charge now is to move
beyond our past success and find new
and innovative ways to deal with climate
change and other emerging challenges
in the 21st century.
In the following pages, we present a
future vision that is mindful of the past.
We examine the forces and trends that
even now are shaping 21st century
conservation in ways very different
from that of the previous century. We
continue with a broad analysis of the
implications to the future Service and
the growing realization that the change
before us is, in many respects, change
without precedent. We conclude with
an assessment of the transformational
change that will be needed by the
Service — change already
underway — to go
beyond the successes of
our past to new vistas
of opportunity that
lie ahead.
Paul Kroegel (left),
the nation’s first
refuge manager,
at Pelican Island
NWR. The refuge
was designed to
stop the killing
of birds at a
specific location.
It led to the idea of
building a network
of habitat (such
as bottomland
hardwood forest,
pictured right, at
Noxubee National
Wildlife Refuge
in Mississippi) to
protect migrating
birds on a
continental scale.
Climate change
will require an
even grander
vision.
Frank peTers
4 / Conservation in Transition: Leading Change in the 21st Century
Conservation in Transition
Forces of Change
Sixty years ago, Rachel Carson wrote
those words in the fifth pamphlet of
her “Conservation in Action” series,
but they now seem almost prophetic.
Carson, a former Fish and Wildlife
Service employee, is known for her
epic Silent Spring, which awakened the
world to the dangers of indiscriminate
pesticide use. The conservation
challenges of the 21st century, however,
represent a force of change potentially
more far-reaching and consequential
than any previously encountered.
Today the Service and conservation
community at large face issues of scale,
pace and complexity unheard of in
Carson’s time. When Silent Spring was
published in 1962, the world’s human
population was slightly more than
3 billion. As of September 2008, it is
estimated to be about 7 billion people
and is expected to reach nearly
9 billion by the year 2042. As the
number of people has increased —
along with rapid industrialization and
development — resource management
challenges such as habitat fragmentation,
contamination, pollution, invasive
species, disease and threats to water
quality and quantity have grown as
well. In particular, accelerated energy
development — from both conventional
and renewable sources in the United
States — is interrelated with the above
challenges and the larger impacts of
climate change.
Accelerated climate change is magnifying
impacts on water and land resources,
agriculture and biological diversity
(see sidebar page 5). We know from the
experiences and observations of Service
biologists that the effects of climate
change are neither isolated nor limited to
a small number of vulnerable species and
habitats; they are ubiquitous across the
U.S. landscape and they are growing.
Climate change impacts are already
urgent in Alaska; they are increasingly
evident along our coastlines, in the arid
West, and in the shifting ecologies of
migration, pollination and invasion; and
the threat of ever greater impacts looms
large. For example, as temperatures rise,
the mountain pine beetle is expanding its
western U.S. range into higher latitudes
and elevations — areas once too cold
to support it. The beetle is killing pine
trees, making forests more susceptible
to wildfires, and creating the potential
to fundamentally and rapidly shift
ecosystem function and structure.
Success at individual project sites will not
be sufficient in an era of climate change.
Therefore, the overarching aim of the
Service will be success at the landscape
scale, achieved by leveraging our
conservation capacity with that of states
and the conservation community at large
and attaining biological outcomes larger
than those we could attain ourselves.
Coping with Climate
Though other regions likely will not be
confronted with climate change impacts
on the same scale or pace as the Arctic,
climatic changes in the Lower 48 States
will amplify current management
challenges such as habitat fragmentation,
invasive species and water scarcity. This
will require an emphasis on large areas
with interconnected and ecologically
functional habitats capable of sustaining
many species — landscapes — rather
than single species or isolated or remnant
habitats. The Service’s challenge will
be to translate climate projections into
transparent predictions of how wildlife
populations and habitats will change in
response.
As climate changes, the abundance and
distribution of wildlife and fish will also
change. Some species will adapt to an
abruptly warming world but many will
not. Species that migrate long distances
and those whose geographic ranges are
limited, for instance, may not be able to
adjust to the changes caused by rising
temperatures. Barriers to migration
(natural and human-caused), increased
competition for habitat and the lack of
suitable or available food could make
things difficult for species moving to
new locations.
Challenges posed by a changing
climate might include:
n Increased frequency of extreme
weather events;
n Changes in the timing, location,
and intensity of wildfires;
n Altered hydrology in rivers and
wetlands;
n Changes in rain and snowfall
patterns;
n Changes in access to water resources;
n Rising sea levels at the Service’s
166 coastal refuges.
Nowhere are the effects of climate
change more evident than in the Arctic
ecosystems. In the Service’s Alaska
Region, observations of Arctic changes
include diminishing sea ice, coastal
erosion, shrinking glaciers, thawing
permafrost, wetland drainage, altered
stream hydrology and earlier “green-up”
of Arctic vegetation. Increased
temperatures in the Arctic have also
contributed to the earlier onset of snow
melt and the lengthening of the melting
season, resulting in decreased total ice
cover at summer’s end. Such changes
have profound implications for many
Arctic species, such as those that led to
our 2008 decision to list the polar bear
as a threatened species.
Emerging Trends
Peter Drucker, perhaps the most widely
read and widely quoted management
theorist of the 20th century, emphasized
the idea of “the future that has already
happened.” Emerging trends and
forces already in motion are shaping
the conservation landscape of the 21st
century. If we can identify these, as
Drucker suggests, we can prepare now
for the challenges that lie ahead.
During the 20th century the unstated but
prevailing conservation theory was the
idea that the nation’s natural resources
could be secured by government-driven
protection, restoration and management.
The future, however, points toward
solutions that reflect an integrated
response by a more networked
conservation community. The 21st
century will demand:
n A shift from managing individual
resource components to sustaining
species, populations, communities and
systems;
n An emphasis on science linking work at
project sites to achievement on broader
scales, including landscapes, major
ecoregions and entire species ranges;
n Increased use of predictive models and
specific measurable biological outcomes;
n Increased emphasis on biological
accountability and inter-organizational
collaboration;
n Increased emphasis on transparency
(public knowledge of government
actions), public participation and
engagement.
Already universities are training
young scientists in these approaches.
Tomorrow’s workforce will be
trained in systems thinking; socially
conditioned to networking; and resistant
to compartmentalized hierarchical
structures. The future points to a
workforce predisposed to a conservation
business model markedly different
from today’s.
Similarly, our concept of partnerships
must change. Collaboration among
agencies and organizations has been
a hallmark of late-20th century
conservation, but more as a forum for
coordination than an engine to build
capacity. Partnerships in the 21st century
must be driven by measurable resource
outcomes rather than mutual interests.
We must all recognize — whether federal,
state, tribal, industry or NGO — that
our conservation responsibility vastly
exceeds our individual organizational
footprints across the landscape. Looking
at this from the Fish and Wildlife
Service perspective, we cannot hope
to fulfill our trust responsibilities
without help from states, tribes, private
landowners and other partners. This
requires not just greater cooperation
and collaboration, but recognition that
we are interdependent organizations.
The future is already happening. Our
challenge as an agency is to respond
decisively to these forces of change,
develop a vision for our conservation
work in the 21st century, and build the
capacity to move it forward.
Like the resource it seeks to protect, wildlife conservation
must be dynamic, changing as conditions change, seeking
always to become more effective. Rachel Carson
A polar bear near
the Beaufort Sea
Coastline of Alaska.
Climate change will amplify
existing resource management
challenges, requiring an
emphasis on large areas
with interconnected and
ecologically functional habitats
capable of sustaining many
species — landscapes — rather
than single species or isolated
or remnant habitats.
Susanne Miler / usfws
Conservation in Transition: Leading Change in the 21st Century / 5
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Conservation in Transition
Vision for the Future
We must become
the change
we want to see.
Mahatma Gandhi
Our Priorities
National Wildlife Refuge System:
Conserving our Lands and Resources
Landscape Conservation:
Working with Others
Migratory Birds: Conservation and
Management
Threatened and Endangered Species:
Showing Recovery Success and
Preventing Extinction.
Aquatic Species: National Fish Habitat
Action Plan and Trust Species
Connecting People with Nature:
Ensuring the Future of Conservation
Our vision, principles and priorities
(see priority summaries page 8) drive
our conservation work, what we aspire
to accomplish with states and other
partners, and how we accomplish it.
They are a compass for navigating
change now and in the years ahead
and focusing our efforts on what really
matters. Ultimately, our performance
is measured in the beat of wings on an
autumn morning, the promise of a rising
native trout, and in the great opportunity
represented in abundant, diverse and
healthy populations of fish, wildlife and
plants. These things have never been
more important, and perhaps, never
more fragile and threatened.
Beyond Our Boundaries
In some respects, that which is changing
most significantly about conservation
is its boundaries. Conservation is
expanding beyond individual project
and site-specific borders to larger
landscapes. It is pushing against the
boundaries of other disciplines. It is
shoving aside the idea that protection,
restoration and management are ends
unto themselves and carrying with
it the idea that each is a means to a
larger outcome — landscapes capable of
sustaining abundant, diverse and healthy
populations of fish, wildlife and plants.
Sustaining populations at landscape
scales requires understanding of the
diverse and complex biological systems
and processes upon which they depend.
As we face a changing climate system,
it requires capacity to understand and
predict how those systems and processes
will change and how those changes will
affect the abundance, distribution and
health of species and populations. These
complexities, in turn, will define how we
work as an agency and with partners.
Fortunately, there has emerged from
the field level of the Service a strategic
approach for landscape conservation
that is suited to this challenge. Termed
“Strategic Habitat Conservation”
or SHC, it is an adaptive resource
management framework composed of
five key elements: biological planning,
conservation design, conservation
delivery, decision-based monitoring
and assumption-driven research. While
methods may vary, SHC begins and ends
with measurable biological objectives
(e.g., sustainable populations or specific
habitat outcomes, such as water quality
measurements, that would support a
sustainable population) for a species or
group of species. These objectives are
met by applying models and conservation
biology principles to ecological conditions
on the landscape.
The Service’s response to the
changing conservation landscape
is grounded in a clear realization that
21st century challenges cannot be met
by repeating and amplifying the 20th
century successes. We are proud of our
achievements and draw inspiration from
them, but that must not keep us from
embracing change that will enable
future success.
We cannot determine what we want to
be, however, without first understanding
who we are and why we exist as
an agency. Our vision statement,
conservation principles and priorities
define our identity and are guideposts
for our future vision:
Our Vision
We will continue to be a leader and
trusted partner in fish and wildlife
conservation, known for our scientific
excellence, stewardship of lands
and natural resources, dedicated
professionals and commitment to
public service.
Our Conservation Principles
Science. Our work is grounded in
thorough, objective science.
Stewardship. Our ethic is to conserve
natural resources for future generations.
Service. It is our privilege to serve the
American people.
Professionalism. We hold ourselves
to the highest ethical standards,
strive for excellence and respect others.
Partnerships. We emphasize creative,
innovative partnerships.
People. Our employees are our most
valued asset.
Legacy. We ensure the future of
natural resource conservation by
connecting people with nature.
SHC is a response to changes affecting
not only the Service but the conservation
community at large. It allows the
Service to deal with issues of scale and
accountability and effectively address
priorities and challenges such as climate
change. In line with this thinking, the
Service is redefining its approach to
partnerships by promoting relationships
that allow a region’s private, state and
federal conservation infrastructure
to operate as a system rather than as
independent entities. As the federal
agency most directly responsible for
fish and wildlife conservation, we will be
a catalyst for the efforts of the larger
conservation community.
The trends transforming partnerships
and conservation in general have
revealed a major shift in the manner
in which the Service and the wildlife
community at large engages the public,
and the implication is this: landscape
conservation is both a science endeavor
and a social endeavor. Increased
demands for transparency and public
participation will require at least
three things: First, a science-based
narrative describing the current and
projected ability of a landscape to
support ecologically viable populations
of fish, wildlife and their habitats;
second, a social narrative defining public
expectations regarding fish and wildlife
and the area of habitat needed; and
third, a strategy for purposeful action.
Conservation professionals will be
responsible for providing the public with
transparent, science-based assessments
and predictions of the consequences
of action and inaction. From this, the
public can participate in landscape-specific
planning and help put those
plans into action on the ground.
Efforts to see beyond our own boundaries
must occur not only within the Service
and with our partners but also across
federal government. Under the current
administrative structure, agencies are
not well coordinated in achieving common
resource goals. In the current and future
era of climate change, our ability to
conserve the nation’s fish and wildlife
will be diminished if agencies continue to
develop and pursue resource objectives
in relative isolation. We propose that the
Service and state wildlife agencies (with
science and technical support of the U.S.
Geological Survey) share responsibility
for developing spatially explicit landscape
designs for wildlife adaptation.
Habitat management agencies
(e.g., Forest Service, Bureau of Land
Management, Natural Resources
Conservation Service, Farm Service
Administration, Department of Defense,
Bureau of Reclamation and Bureau of
Indian Affairs) will be responsible within
the context of their specific missions for
treating these designs as an important
guide for management decisions and
commitment of resources. This calls for
a new operational construct for agency
collaboration through the collective
integration of common goals for wildlife
conservation, and the directed efforts
of the respective agencies to achieve
these goals. >> continued on page 10
The Service is redefining its approach to
partnerships by promoting relationships
that allow a region’s private, state and
federal conservation infrastructure
to operate as a system rather than as
independent entities.
Brian Jonkers / USFWS
Strategic Habitat Conservation is a response to changes affecting
not only the Service but the conservation community at large.
Priority: National Wildlife
Refuge System
Conserving Our Lands and Resources
Created in 1903, the National Wildlife
Refuge System is the world’s most extensive
network of public lands devoted to the
conservation of wildlife habitat and wildlife
species. Spanning more than 96 million
acres on 548 national wildlife refuges and
37 wetland management districts, the
Refuge System is home to at least 700
species of birds, 220 mammals and nearly
280 threatened or endangered species.
Refuges are key starting points for the
Service’s landscape conservation efforts and
living case studies for resource management
challenges involving habitat fragmentation,
urbanization, invasive species, disease,
parasites and water management — all of
which are magnified by climate change.
Protection of key habitats within the Refuge
System remains one of the Service’s
highest priorities and one of the most
important means of implementing landscape
conservation. Using the Strategic Habitat
Conservation framework, the Refuge System
is working on a new policy for strategic
growth to address high priority conservation
needs, like the impacts of climate change on
fish and wildlife populations and habitats.
Because sea level rise is a projected
impact of climate change, the Service is
currently examining related affects on our
166 coastal national wildlife refuges. Using
predictive models, refuge managers will
be able to understand what will happen
as the ocean level rises, how fresh water
marshes will give way to salt water, and then
slip below the ocean’s surface. Knowing
this information in advance will help
refuge managers make long-term planning
decisions and implement strategic actions to
help fish and wildlife species adapt.
Refuges are living case studies for
resource management challenges.
Partnerships are critical to the
landscape conservation process.
Priority: Landscape Conservation
Working With Others
The concept of landscape conservation
is not new. For decades, the Service’s
National Wildlife Refuge System has
been built around intuitive concepts of
the relationship of birds to their habitats.
While much of the nation was in the midst
of a drought in the 1930s, the Service and
other conservation partners had the vision
to acquire and conserve wetlands in the
Prairie Pothole Region, a delicate ecosystem
rich in plant and aquatic life that supports
globally significant populations of breeding
waterfowl. More recently, increased
population and development, as well as
technological advancements that allow
scientists and managers to analyze change
at landscape scales are pushing landscape
conservation to the forefront of the fish and
wildlife profession.
What is new are the Service’s efforts
to establish a commonly understood
and practiced approach to landscape
conservation — one that is adaptive,
science-driven and focused on explicit
and measurable biological outcomes. In
the Lower Mississippi Valley, for example,
Service biologists — working with the U.S.
Geological Survey, state wildlife agencies
and other partners — discovered that by
conserving the right habitat in the right
places they could increase the benefit
to wildlife populations across the valley.
They found that when small tracts where
conservation had been achieved were
mapped they hit only 3 percent of the core
habitat needed by waterfowl and forest
breeding birds. When the partners focused
on core habitat and connected it using the
same level of conservation resources, they
captured 54 percent of the core habitat
needed for those species. That’s what
landscape conservation is all about.
Priority: Migratory Birds
Conservation and Management
Migrating birds are more adaptive than
other suites of species because they can
move long distance in search of food
and mates. But, because of the distance
traveled, they are more difficult to study
and understand. This means researchers
and conservationists need to cover more
ground — sometimes an entire hemisphere.
Some migrating species are highly
specialized to particular food sources like
a hummingbird that times its northerly
migration to meet flowering plants along
the way. Other birds, like the albatross
that breed on remote islands, require
ground nesting areas protected from the
sea and predators.
It’s not hard to imagine that a warming
climate may cause plants to flower earlier
causing the hummingbird to miss its
connection with the sugar-filled nectar.
Sea-level rise could over come the low-lying
islands in the South Pacific that serve as
breeding colonies for albatross.
As the Service works with its migratory bird
partners at home and abroad, it will continue
to use the Strategic Habitat Conservation
framework to identify and conserve those
breeding areas in the north and wintering
areas to the south that migrating birds
require during their epic annual journeys.
As the Service seeks to understand the
causes of bird population declines and the
added complication of climate change, it will
follow the integrated process of monitoring
populations, understanding the dynamics of
why bird numbers change, and strategically
designing and implementing conservation
programs to address these changes.
Priority: Threatened and
Endangered Species
Achieving Recovery and Preventing
Extinction
Under the Endangered Species Act,
identifying species population and habitat
conservation goals and mapping a plan to
deliver those goals has been the heart of
candidate conservation and listed species
recovery planning. Conservation
of threatened and endangered species
will pose a particular challenge under
climate change.
Species unable to adapt to the new, rapidly
changing conditions will be less successful.
Because endangered and threatened
species are already surviving at the limits of
their ecological tolerance, the added stress
of changing climate creates the potential for
mass species extinctions.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change estimates (with medium confidence)
that approximately 20 – 30 percent of
species assessed so far are likely to be
at increased risk of extinction if global
average global temperatures rise more
than 1.5 – 2.5°C (relative to 1980 –1999).
If the increase exceeds about 3.5°C,
model projections suggest significant
extinctions (40 – 70 percent of species
assessed) around the globe.
As climate change expands the scale
and complexity of the challenges facing
candidate and listed species, landscape
conservation offers the conservation
community a way to identify, prioritize and
improve recovery efforts while remaining
responsive to changing threats and new
scientific information.
Some species, such as the American
Pika, are already surviving at the limits
of their ecological tolerance.
Priority: Connecting People
with Nature
Ensuring the Future of Conservation
Americans’ declining interaction with the
outdoors — particularly children growing up
in a digital age who prefer virtual reality to
natural reality — is a substantial challenge
to our conservation mission. In response to
this trend, the Service has joined a national
movement to expand opportunities for
people to get outside and become involved
with the natural world. Our challenge is not
simply reconnecting people with nature;
it is growing a national constituency for
conservation. Adapting the wide-ranging
elements of landscape planning will have
limited effect without strong public
support and participation and an American
public committed to the sustained future
of the natural world — particularly in a
changing climate.
From providing programs that educate
and inspire children to engaging a new
generation of citizen scientists who will help
us collect and interpret data to understand
species’ response to climate change, our
land base and our employees are helping
people of every age to get outdoors.
By connecting people with nature today
we are promoting healthy lifestyles
and improving the chances that future
generations will have an affinity for nature
and a concern for its conservation. Learn
more at < www.fws.gov/letsgooutside >.
Connecting people with nature also
helps connect them to the Service’s
conservation mission.
Water management is crucial for
sustainable habitats that support plants
and animals.
Priority: Aquatic Species
National Fish Habitat Action Plan
and Trust Species
Aquatic resources are declining at alarming
rates due to habitat loss, contaminants,
invasive species, overexploitation and
most recently, diseases — all of which are
exacerbated by climate change. Of about
800 native freshwater fish species in the
United States, 37 percent are in need of
conservation action. As fish habitats decline,
so do the numerous values they provide
for natural resources, human health and a
sound economy.
There is little doubt that water quality
and quantity may be the most important
conservation issues of the 21st century.
As our population and water use increase,
so do the competing needs of our cities,
agricultural areas and wildlife. Because
water connects all forms of life, conserving it
requires a landscape-level approach based
on action, cooperation and sound science.
In a changing climate, effective water
management will be of even greater
importance in sustaining habitats that
support plants and animals. The National
Fish Habitat Action Plan uses federal,
state and privately-raised funds to build
regional partnerships that target financial
and technical resources where they
can do the most good. The plan uses an
integrated landscape approach, linking
upland, aquatic and marine systems and
determining the condition of the nation’s
waters by classifying them based on
published landscape classification
systems and support for landscape-level
fisheries projects.
Mattamuskeet NWR, North Carolina Bald Eagle American Pika Brook Trout
Lyn Adams, Sr.
Alison Whitlock / usfws
Thomas G. Barnes
N.J. Stuart
Eric Engbretson
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Conservation in Transition
Building Capacity
Vision without action is a dream.
Action without vision is simply
passing the time. Action with vision is
making a positive difference. Joel Barker
The Fish and Wildlife Service has a
reputation for getting things done,
which springs from our collective
commitment to service and the individual
dedication of thousands of conservation
professionals. Nearly a year ago, our
agency embarked to develop a strategic
plan to guide its climate change work and
chart a course of action. The strategy
focuses on adaptation (the management
actions we take to reduce the impacts of
climate change on fish, wildlife, plants
and their habitats), mitigation (human
intervention to reduce the sources or
enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases)
and education. In the year ahead we
will move quickly to identify knowledge
gaps and expand our work with partners
to effectively anticipate and address
climate change. These steps grow
from and build upon our decisions to
implement the SHC framework for
landscape conservation, and support
our transition strategy and our climate
change strategic and action plans now
being developed. No amount of vision and
planning, however, can succeed without
the capacity to equip our employees with
necessary skills, technologies, funding
and leadership support to achieve our
conservation mission.
Mirroring elements of the SHC
framework, we have identified key
investments to support this vision.
We will build additional core capacity
in biological planning and conservation
design to identify landscapes, habitats
and species that are most vulnerable to
climate change, define clear conservation
objectives, and focus our management
actions most effectively. We will work
with partners to target our conservation
delivery to accomplish these objectives,
focusing on building connectivity to
support population-level adaptations to
changing climate. We will establish and
implement new monitoring programs
and refine existing ones in order to
implement adaptive management and
test and improve our conservation
hypotheses.
Biological Planning and
Conservation Design
Through the actions described above,
we will identify clear objectives and
acquire valuable information and design
strategies necessary to meet them. This
will include determining priority species,
formulating population objectives for
those species, assessing species’ status
and trends and associated limiting
factors, and developing models to
help explain and predict the changing
relationships between species and
their habitats.
Implementing this vision requires
expertise from many disciplines:
conservation biologists to prescribe a
genetically viable population objective;
ecologists to define the population-habitat
relationships and limiting
factors; modelers to help inter-relate
all these variables; GIS specialists to
identify potential sites for protection or
management; land-use planners to input
zoning and land ownership data; field
biologists to ground-truth assumptions
and outcomes; and climate change
experts to predict large-scale ecological
changes that will drive habitat conditions
and population response.
This vision requires understanding
the relationship between project-scale
actions and larger landscape-scale
objectives; shifting focus from
outputs such as stream miles restored,
or migration barriers removed, to
explicit outcomes such as sustainable
populations; and emphasizing the
predicted impacts of climate change. To
achieve the latter, we will need capacity
to model and predict fish and wildlife
population responses to direct changes
in temperature and precipitation, and to
indirect changes resulting from human
activities in response to a changing
climate. We will need improved and
increased research and monitoring to test
assumptions about ecosystem changes
that have no precedent.
To build these capacities and drive
these changes, we envision an initial
investment to establish a network of
Landscape Conservation Cooperatives.
These cooperatives will house shared
expertise and capacity among Service
programs and between partners from
Armed with the capacities outlined in
this document, the Service will support
development of renewable energy sources
while avoiding population-level
effects on fish and wildlife resources.
diego vaires
other federal agencies, states, tribes,
universities, businesses and private
citizens. The Service will act not as owner
or operator of these cooperatives, but
as a catalyst and participant. We will
offer opportunity for co-location with
existing Service facilities and equal
eagerness to co-locate Service employees
and assets at partner facilities. In some
cases, employees and assets of many
partners will be networked between
remote locations using technology.
Our vision is not one of buildings and
bricks-and-mortar; but rather, it is one
of building capacity to define and pursue
conservation at broader scales. Because
our collective need for these capacities
and technologies far outweighs our
individual abilities to invest in them,
a collaborative approach is essential
to success.
Conservation Delivery
Climate change and other emerging
natural resources threats demand
immediate response. As we stimulate
and build new capacities through
mechanisms like Landscape
Conservation Cooperatives, there are
many actions that can be taken now.
We propose bolstering existing
delivery capacities to leverage habitat
protection, restoration, enhancement
and management activities to begin
addressing the most pressing and
obvious effects of changing climate and
to identify and begin experimenting with
adaptation options. In addition, we will
take steps to lead by example in reducing
our carbon footprint, and to provide
education on the causes and effects of
a changing climate to fish and wildlife
resources. Specific measures include:
n Developing objectives to assess,
measure and deliver landscape
connectivity through land acquisition,
easements, fish passage and cooperative
habitat restoration with private
landowners;
n Acquiring priority refuge and hatchery
water rights needed to meet objectives
for climate-vulnerable species. Water
management will be a key factor in
helping waterbirds and aquatic species
respond to changes in precipitation.
Availability of sufficient water to
operate the Service’s fish hatcheries
and wildlife refuges is fundamental to
mission success, and we will identify
and build strategies for particularly
vulnerable facilities;
n Implementing conservation plans
for priority species. The Service works
extensively with partners to write and
implement conservation plans that
prescribe specific action items, timelines
and responsible parties;
n Intensifying assessment of population
status and trends, reducing disturbance,
mitigating development-related impacts
and adaptively managing for optimal
sustainable populations of ice-dependent
species as Arctic sea ice diminishes;
n Reducing the Service’s carbon
footprint by restructuring our vehicle
fleet, emphasizing energy conservation
and managing employee travel;
n Extending our engagement in
international climate negotiations
and treaties, and in international
conservation supporting species
adaptations; and
n Implementing a comprehensive
communications plan to support the
Service’s Strategic Approach to Climate
Change at all levels of the Service.
Conservation Research
and Monitoring
To maximize efficiency, new Service
research and monitoring efforts will be
integrated with partners such as the U.S.
Geological Survey, state wildlife agencies
and key conservation organizations,
which will:
n Monitor how changes in temperatures
and precipitation alter existing
ecosystems and species-habitat
relationships. This includes expanding
our partnership in the National
Phenology Network and our efforts to
connect people with nature by engaging
a new generation of citizen scientists
who will help us collect and interpret
data to understand species’ response to a
changing climate;
n Conduct applied research to test
assumptions in peer-reviewed fish and
wildlife models. Historical climate,
population and habitat conditions are
not necessarily indicative of future
conditions. Assumptions will have to be
refined in order for models to predict
outcomes accurately, and management
actions will have to be adapted to the
revised scenarios in order to yield
predicted results; and
n Evaluate the response of populations to
management actions. Resource managers
will have to quickly assess the population
response to their actions and adjust
management techniques and strategies to
achieve desired outcomes. For example,
as we take specific actions to manage
climate-vulnerable species such as
polar bear, we will need to quickly assess
their effect and adapt management
strategies as conditions change.
Climate change and other emerging natural resources threats
demand immediate response.
12 / Conservation in Transition: Leading Change in the 21st Century
Conservation in Transition
Moving Forward
We do not inherit the Earth
from our ancestors;
we borrow it from our children.
Origin Uncertain
Viewed collectively, the conservation
challenges of the 21st century seem
staggering. But our history is one of
overcoming adversity through the power
of innovation, diligence and a strong
sense of purpose.
Dr. Ira Gabrielson, the first Director
of the Fish and Wildlife Service,
exemplified these traits. In the midst
of the Depression and Dust Bowl,
Gabrielson oversaw a nearly fourfold
expansion of the Refuge System —
from 63 refuges when he took over as
Director to 210 by the time he retired.
In 1939, he helped create the Patuxent
Research Refuge — the only wildlife
refuge dedicated to research; and in
1943, Gabrielson wrote Wildlife Refuges,
the definitive book on the Refuge
System. In the book, he wrote, “The
conservation battle cannot be a short,
sharp engagement, but must be grim,
tenacious warfare — the sort that makes
single gains and then consolidates
these gains until renewed strength and
a good opportunity make another
advance possible.”
Today, the Service continues to make
“single gains” but often falls short in
consolidating them. We now see that
broad-scale challenges like climate
change threaten to diminish these
advances if we are not mindful in building
the type of capacities called for in
this document. The kind of change we
envision is never easy, and it will not
take place quickly or without sacrifice.
But we must realize we are not only
working for those who place their trust
in us today; we are working for our
children and future generations who
someday will inherit the job of protecting
our natural resources.
Indeed, conservation is in transition.
But change presents an opportunity for
leadership to build on the great traditions
of our past and help shape our future
legacy. This is why the women and men
of the Fish and Wildlife Service have
chosen a career of public service — to
deal with issues of consequence and make
a difference for our nation. Together
with our partners, and with the support
of visionary leaders, we can face the
challenges of our time and change the
future for the better.
Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge National Elk Refuge
J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge
canvasback ducks ilustration: T ferns: jane peciloto; pecilans: George Gentry; purple asters: Thomas G. Barnes im knepp; cacit: usfws; elk: Glen smart
The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service is working with others to conserve,
protect and enhance fish, wildlife, plants
and their habitats for the continuing
benefit of the american people.
We are both a leader and trusted partner
in fish and wildlife conservation, known
for our scientific excellence, stewardship
of lands and natural resources, dedicated
professionals and commitment to public
service. For more information on our
work and the people who make it happen,
visit www.fws.gov.

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U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Conservation in
Transition
Leading Change in the 21st Century
LegaC y
S C ienC e
S T e W ardS hip S erviC e
p roF e SSionaL i S m
p arT nerS hipS
p eopL e
Conservation in Transition: Leading Change in the 21st Century / 1
Foreword
Dealing with changing climate requires
willingness and ability to think about
and approach conservation in new
ways. Our “marketplace” is now global.
Our conservation target — once as
simple as protecting and managing
parts and pieces — is now as complex
as sustaining systems and functions,
species and populations at global
scales. We must understand climate
change as an overarching challenge
that requires us to reconsider every
aspect of organizational and program
operations and performance. We cannot
face this challenge by simply repeating
the conservation successes of the past.
We must rapidly develop the capacity to
envision and deliver conservation across
connected networks of habitats, based on
scientific understanding and predictions
of species’ needs. We know what needs to
be done, and we know it will be difficult.
The key ingredient is leadership with a
vision that is equal to the challenges of
the 21st century.
We must embrace
and lead change,
not just within
ourselves and our
organization, but
across the entire
conservation
community.
american fish and wildlife conservation
took root and flourished during
the 20th century, organizing around
component pieces of the ecological
landscape — land, water, coast,
ocean, forest, range, fish and wildlife.
Conservation professions and
organizations emerged from these
demarcations and have served well in
facing issues that are largely local and
confined within jurisdictional boundaries.
But as the human enterprise has
grown from local to regional and now
global scales, conservation challenges
such as poorly planned development,
habitat fragmentation, pollution and
water scarcity have also increased.
The complexity and scale of today’s
conservation problems are challenging
the existing organizational and
professional frameworks within which
the conservation community operates.
Now, climate change is accelerating the
need for change in our conservation
professions and organizations.
Coordination can no longer be our
goal; we must recognize the need for
working beyond our boundaries and
accept interdependency as an organizing
principle. We must embrace and lead
change, not just within ourselves and
our organization, but across the entire
conservation community. As we approach
a governmental transition, the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service is positioned to be
a catalyst for a new and promising era
of conservation.
i n S i d e
Introduction / 2
Forces of Change / 4
Vision for the Future / 6
Building Capacity / 10
Moving Forward / 12
Frank peTers
jane peLLICCIoTTo
2 / Conservation in Transition: Leading Change in the 21st Century Conservation in Transition: Leading Change in the 21st Century / 3
introduction
as an agency, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service traces its origins
to a point nearly two decades before
the closing of the American Frontier. In
1871, with the establishment of the U.S.
Commission on Fish and Fisheries, the
idea of fish and wildlife conservation as
a right and proper federal government
endeavor found its first public expression.
That idea framed our beginning, and
from the beginning there was change.
At the dawn of the 20th century, leaders
solidified the notion of conservation
as a fundamental public service,
providing a powerful vision of public
trust that would guide development of
the nation’s private, state, tribal and
federal conservation infrastructure. Soon
thereafter, in the midst of the first global
conflict, we would enter into a treaty
with Great Britain for the conservation
of migratory birds. And later, from the
social, economic and ecological turmoil of
the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression,
other visionary commitments would
emerge: secure funding to build state
capacities and reestablish depleted
populations of wildlife; a collaborative
system to regulate the hunting of
migratory waterfowl on continental
scales; a system of national wildlife
refuges; the Endangered Species Act;
and many others. Alongside our state and
other conservation partners — notably
hunters, anglers, birders and citizen
conservationists — we have proudly
met the 20th century’s conservation
challenges. Our charge now is to move
beyond our past success and find new
and innovative ways to deal with climate
change and other emerging challenges
in the 21st century.
In the following pages, we present a
future vision that is mindful of the past.
We examine the forces and trends that
even now are shaping 21st century
conservation in ways very different
from that of the previous century. We
continue with a broad analysis of the
implications to the future Service and
the growing realization that the change
before us is, in many respects, change
without precedent. We conclude with
an assessment of the transformational
change that will be needed by the
Service — change already
underway — to go
beyond the successes of
our past to new vistas
of opportunity that
lie ahead.
Paul Kroegel (left),
the nation’s first
refuge manager,
at Pelican Island
NWR. The refuge
was designed to
stop the killing
of birds at a
specific location.
It led to the idea of
building a network
of habitat (such
as bottomland
hardwood forest,
pictured right, at
Noxubee National
Wildlife Refuge
in Mississippi) to
protect migrating
birds on a
continental scale.
Climate change
will require an
even grander
vision.
Frank peTers
4 / Conservation in Transition: Leading Change in the 21st Century
Conservation in Transition
Forces of Change
Sixty years ago, Rachel Carson wrote
those words in the fifth pamphlet of
her “Conservation in Action” series,
but they now seem almost prophetic.
Carson, a former Fish and Wildlife
Service employee, is known for her
epic Silent Spring, which awakened the
world to the dangers of indiscriminate
pesticide use. The conservation
challenges of the 21st century, however,
represent a force of change potentially
more far-reaching and consequential
than any previously encountered.
Today the Service and conservation
community at large face issues of scale,
pace and complexity unheard of in
Carson’s time. When Silent Spring was
published in 1962, the world’s human
population was slightly more than
3 billion. As of September 2008, it is
estimated to be about 7 billion people
and is expected to reach nearly
9 billion by the year 2042. As the
number of people has increased —
along with rapid industrialization and
development — resource management
challenges such as habitat fragmentation,
contamination, pollution, invasive
species, disease and threats to water
quality and quantity have grown as
well. In particular, accelerated energy
development — from both conventional
and renewable sources in the United
States — is interrelated with the above
challenges and the larger impacts of
climate change.
Accelerated climate change is magnifying
impacts on water and land resources,
agriculture and biological diversity
(see sidebar page 5). We know from the
experiences and observations of Service
biologists that the effects of climate
change are neither isolated nor limited to
a small number of vulnerable species and
habitats; they are ubiquitous across the
U.S. landscape and they are growing.
Climate change impacts are already
urgent in Alaska; they are increasingly
evident along our coastlines, in the arid
West, and in the shifting ecologies of
migration, pollination and invasion; and
the threat of ever greater impacts looms
large. For example, as temperatures rise,
the mountain pine beetle is expanding its
western U.S. range into higher latitudes
and elevations — areas once too cold
to support it. The beetle is killing pine
trees, making forests more susceptible
to wildfires, and creating the potential
to fundamentally and rapidly shift
ecosystem function and structure.
Success at individual project sites will not
be sufficient in an era of climate change.
Therefore, the overarching aim of the
Service will be success at the landscape
scale, achieved by leveraging our
conservation capacity with that of states
and the conservation community at large
and attaining biological outcomes larger
than those we could attain ourselves.
Coping with Climate
Though other regions likely will not be
confronted with climate change impacts
on the same scale or pace as the Arctic,
climatic changes in the Lower 48 States
will amplify current management
challenges such as habitat fragmentation,
invasive species and water scarcity. This
will require an emphasis on large areas
with interconnected and ecologically
functional habitats capable of sustaining
many species — landscapes — rather
than single species or isolated or remnant
habitats. The Service’s challenge will
be to translate climate projections into
transparent predictions of how wildlife
populations and habitats will change in
response.
As climate changes, the abundance and
distribution of wildlife and fish will also
change. Some species will adapt to an
abruptly warming world but many will
not. Species that migrate long distances
and those whose geographic ranges are
limited, for instance, may not be able to
adjust to the changes caused by rising
temperatures. Barriers to migration
(natural and human-caused), increased
competition for habitat and the lack of
suitable or available food could make
things difficult for species moving to
new locations.
Challenges posed by a changing
climate might include:
n Increased frequency of extreme
weather events;
n Changes in the timing, location,
and intensity of wildfires;
n Altered hydrology in rivers and
wetlands;
n Changes in rain and snowfall
patterns;
n Changes in access to water resources;
n Rising sea levels at the Service’s
166 coastal refuges.
Nowhere are the effects of climate
change more evident than in the Arctic
ecosystems. In the Service’s Alaska
Region, observations of Arctic changes
include diminishing sea ice, coastal
erosion, shrinking glaciers, thawing
permafrost, wetland drainage, altered
stream hydrology and earlier “green-up”
of Arctic vegetation. Increased
temperatures in the Arctic have also
contributed to the earlier onset of snow
melt and the lengthening of the melting
season, resulting in decreased total ice
cover at summer’s end. Such changes
have profound implications for many
Arctic species, such as those that led to
our 2008 decision to list the polar bear
as a threatened species.
Emerging Trends
Peter Drucker, perhaps the most widely
read and widely quoted management
theorist of the 20th century, emphasized
the idea of “the future that has already
happened.” Emerging trends and
forces already in motion are shaping
the conservation landscape of the 21st
century. If we can identify these, as
Drucker suggests, we can prepare now
for the challenges that lie ahead.
During the 20th century the unstated but
prevailing conservation theory was the
idea that the nation’s natural resources
could be secured by government-driven
protection, restoration and management.
The future, however, points toward
solutions that reflect an integrated
response by a more networked
conservation community. The 21st
century will demand:
n A shift from managing individual
resource components to sustaining
species, populations, communities and
systems;
n An emphasis on science linking work at
project sites to achievement on broader
scales, including landscapes, major
ecoregions and entire species ranges;
n Increased use of predictive models and
specific measurable biological outcomes;
n Increased emphasis on biological
accountability and inter-organizational
collaboration;
n Increased emphasis on transparency
(public knowledge of government
actions), public participation and
engagement.
Already universities are training
young scientists in these approaches.
Tomorrow’s workforce will be
trained in systems thinking; socially
conditioned to networking; and resistant
to compartmentalized hierarchical
structures. The future points to a
workforce predisposed to a conservation
business model markedly different
from today’s.
Similarly, our concept of partnerships
must change. Collaboration among
agencies and organizations has been
a hallmark of late-20th century
conservation, but more as a forum for
coordination than an engine to build
capacity. Partnerships in the 21st century
must be driven by measurable resource
outcomes rather than mutual interests.
We must all recognize — whether federal,
state, tribal, industry or NGO — that
our conservation responsibility vastly
exceeds our individual organizational
footprints across the landscape. Looking
at this from the Fish and Wildlife
Service perspective, we cannot hope
to fulfill our trust responsibilities
without help from states, tribes, private
landowners and other partners. This
requires not just greater cooperation
and collaboration, but recognition that
we are interdependent organizations.
The future is already happening. Our
challenge as an agency is to respond
decisively to these forces of change,
develop a vision for our conservation
work in the 21st century, and build the
capacity to move it forward.
Like the resource it seeks to protect, wildlife conservation
must be dynamic, changing as conditions change, seeking
always to become more effective. Rachel Carson
A polar bear near
the Beaufort Sea
Coastline of Alaska.
Climate change will amplify
existing resource management
challenges, requiring an
emphasis on large areas
with interconnected and
ecologically functional habitats
capable of sustaining many
species — landscapes — rather
than single species or isolated
or remnant habitats.
Susanne Miler / usfws
Conservation in Transition: Leading Change in the 21st Century / 5
6 / Conservation in Transition: Leading Change in the 21st Century Conservation in Transition: Leading Change in the 21st Century / 7
Conservation in Transition
Vision for the Future
We must become
the change
we want to see.
Mahatma Gandhi
Our Priorities
National Wildlife Refuge System:
Conserving our Lands and Resources
Landscape Conservation:
Working with Others
Migratory Birds: Conservation and
Management
Threatened and Endangered Species:
Showing Recovery Success and
Preventing Extinction.
Aquatic Species: National Fish Habitat
Action Plan and Trust Species
Connecting People with Nature:
Ensuring the Future of Conservation
Our vision, principles and priorities
(see priority summaries page 8) drive
our conservation work, what we aspire
to accomplish with states and other
partners, and how we accomplish it.
They are a compass for navigating
change now and in the years ahead
and focusing our efforts on what really
matters. Ultimately, our performance
is measured in the beat of wings on an
autumn morning, the promise of a rising
native trout, and in the great opportunity
represented in abundant, diverse and
healthy populations of fish, wildlife and
plants. These things have never been
more important, and perhaps, never
more fragile and threatened.
Beyond Our Boundaries
In some respects, that which is changing
most significantly about conservation
is its boundaries. Conservation is
expanding beyond individual project
and site-specific borders to larger
landscapes. It is pushing against the
boundaries of other disciplines. It is
shoving aside the idea that protection,
restoration and management are ends
unto themselves and carrying with
it the idea that each is a means to a
larger outcome — landscapes capable of
sustaining abundant, diverse and healthy
populations of fish, wildlife and plants.
Sustaining populations at landscape
scales requires understanding of the
diverse and complex biological systems
and processes upon which they depend.
As we face a changing climate system,
it requires capacity to understand and
predict how those systems and processes
will change and how those changes will
affect the abundance, distribution and
health of species and populations. These
complexities, in turn, will define how we
work as an agency and with partners.
Fortunately, there has emerged from
the field level of the Service a strategic
approach for landscape conservation
that is suited to this challenge. Termed
“Strategic Habitat Conservation”
or SHC, it is an adaptive resource
management framework composed of
five key elements: biological planning,
conservation design, conservation
delivery, decision-based monitoring
and assumption-driven research. While
methods may vary, SHC begins and ends
with measurable biological objectives
(e.g., sustainable populations or specific
habitat outcomes, such as water quality
measurements, that would support a
sustainable population) for a species or
group of species. These objectives are
met by applying models and conservation
biology principles to ecological conditions
on the landscape.
The Service’s response to the
changing conservation landscape
is grounded in a clear realization that
21st century challenges cannot be met
by repeating and amplifying the 20th
century successes. We are proud of our
achievements and draw inspiration from
them, but that must not keep us from
embracing change that will enable
future success.
We cannot determine what we want to
be, however, without first understanding
who we are and why we exist as
an agency. Our vision statement,
conservation principles and priorities
define our identity and are guideposts
for our future vision:
Our Vision
We will continue to be a leader and
trusted partner in fish and wildlife
conservation, known for our scientific
excellence, stewardship of lands
and natural resources, dedicated
professionals and commitment to
public service.
Our Conservation Principles
Science. Our work is grounded in
thorough, objective science.
Stewardship. Our ethic is to conserve
natural resources for future generations.
Service. It is our privilege to serve the
American people.
Professionalism. We hold ourselves
to the highest ethical standards,
strive for excellence and respect others.
Partnerships. We emphasize creative,
innovative partnerships.
People. Our employees are our most
valued asset.
Legacy. We ensure the future of
natural resource conservation by
connecting people with nature.
SHC is a response to changes affecting
not only the Service but the conservation
community at large. It allows the
Service to deal with issues of scale and
accountability and effectively address
priorities and challenges such as climate
change. In line with this thinking, the
Service is redefining its approach to
partnerships by promoting relationships
that allow a region’s private, state and
federal conservation infrastructure
to operate as a system rather than as
independent entities. As the federal
agency most directly responsible for
fish and wildlife conservation, we will be
a catalyst for the efforts of the larger
conservation community.
The trends transforming partnerships
and conservation in general have
revealed a major shift in the manner
in which the Service and the wildlife
community at large engages the public,
and the implication is this: landscape
conservation is both a science endeavor
and a social endeavor. Increased
demands for transparency and public
participation will require at least
three things: First, a science-based
narrative describing the current and
projected ability of a landscape to
support ecologically viable populations
of fish, wildlife and their habitats;
second, a social narrative defining public
expectations regarding fish and wildlife
and the area of habitat needed; and
third, a strategy for purposeful action.
Conservation professionals will be
responsible for providing the public with
transparent, science-based assessments
and predictions of the consequences
of action and inaction. From this, the
public can participate in landscape-specific
planning and help put those
plans into action on the ground.
Efforts to see beyond our own boundaries
must occur not only within the Service
and with our partners but also across
federal government. Under the current
administrative structure, agencies are
not well coordinated in achieving common
resource goals. In the current and future
era of climate change, our ability to
conserve the nation’s fish and wildlife
will be diminished if agencies continue to
develop and pursue resource objectives
in relative isolation. We propose that the
Service and state wildlife agencies (with
science and technical support of the U.S.
Geological Survey) share responsibility
for developing spatially explicit landscape
designs for wildlife adaptation.
Habitat management agencies
(e.g., Forest Service, Bureau of Land
Management, Natural Resources
Conservation Service, Farm Service
Administration, Department of Defense,
Bureau of Reclamation and Bureau of
Indian Affairs) will be responsible within
the context of their specific missions for
treating these designs as an important
guide for management decisions and
commitment of resources. This calls for
a new operational construct for agency
collaboration through the collective
integration of common goals for wildlife
conservation, and the directed efforts
of the respective agencies to achieve
these goals. >> continued on page 10
The Service is redefining its approach to
partnerships by promoting relationships
that allow a region’s private, state and
federal conservation infrastructure
to operate as a system rather than as
independent entities.
Brian Jonkers / USFWS
Strategic Habitat Conservation is a response to changes affecting
not only the Service but the conservation community at large.
Priority: National Wildlife
Refuge System
Conserving Our Lands and Resources
Created in 1903, the National Wildlife
Refuge System is the world’s most extensive
network of public lands devoted to the
conservation of wildlife habitat and wildlife
species. Spanning more than 96 million
acres on 548 national wildlife refuges and
37 wetland management districts, the
Refuge System is home to at least 700
species of birds, 220 mammals and nearly
280 threatened or endangered species.
Refuges are key starting points for the
Service’s landscape conservation efforts and
living case studies for resource management
challenges involving habitat fragmentation,
urbanization, invasive species, disease,
parasites and water management — all of
which are magnified by climate change.
Protection of key habitats within the Refuge
System remains one of the Service’s
highest priorities and one of the most
important means of implementing landscape
conservation. Using the Strategic Habitat
Conservation framework, the Refuge System
is working on a new policy for strategic
growth to address high priority conservation
needs, like the impacts of climate change on
fish and wildlife populations and habitats.
Because sea level rise is a projected
impact of climate change, the Service is
currently examining related affects on our
166 coastal national wildlife refuges. Using
predictive models, refuge managers will
be able to understand what will happen
as the ocean level rises, how fresh water
marshes will give way to salt water, and then
slip below the ocean’s surface. Knowing
this information in advance will help
refuge managers make long-term planning
decisions and implement strategic actions to
help fish and wildlife species adapt.
Refuges are living case studies for
resource management challenges.
Partnerships are critical to the
landscape conservation process.
Priority: Landscape Conservation
Working With Others
The concept of landscape conservation
is not new. For decades, the Service’s
National Wildlife Refuge System has
been built around intuitive concepts of
the relationship of birds to their habitats.
While much of the nation was in the midst
of a drought in the 1930s, the Service and
other conservation partners had the vision
to acquire and conserve wetlands in the
Prairie Pothole Region, a delicate ecosystem
rich in plant and aquatic life that supports
globally significant populations of breeding
waterfowl. More recently, increased
population and development, as well as
technological advancements that allow
scientists and managers to analyze change
at landscape scales are pushing landscape
conservation to the forefront of the fish and
wildlife profession.
What is new are the Service’s efforts
to establish a commonly understood
and practiced approach to landscape
conservation — one that is adaptive,
science-driven and focused on explicit
and measurable biological outcomes. In
the Lower Mississippi Valley, for example,
Service biologists — working with the U.S.
Geological Survey, state wildlife agencies
and other partners — discovered that by
conserving the right habitat in the right
places they could increase the benefit
to wildlife populations across the valley.
They found that when small tracts where
conservation had been achieved were
mapped they hit only 3 percent of the core
habitat needed by waterfowl and forest
breeding birds. When the partners focused
on core habitat and connected it using the
same level of conservation resources, they
captured 54 percent of the core habitat
needed for those species. That’s what
landscape conservation is all about.
Priority: Migratory Birds
Conservation and Management
Migrating birds are more adaptive than
other suites of species because they can
move long distance in search of food
and mates. But, because of the distance
traveled, they are more difficult to study
and understand. This means researchers
and conservationists need to cover more
ground — sometimes an entire hemisphere.
Some migrating species are highly
specialized to particular food sources like
a hummingbird that times its northerly
migration to meet flowering plants along
the way. Other birds, like the albatross
that breed on remote islands, require
ground nesting areas protected from the
sea and predators.
It’s not hard to imagine that a warming
climate may cause plants to flower earlier
causing the hummingbird to miss its
connection with the sugar-filled nectar.
Sea-level rise could over come the low-lying
islands in the South Pacific that serve as
breeding colonies for albatross.
As the Service works with its migratory bird
partners at home and abroad, it will continue
to use the Strategic Habitat Conservation
framework to identify and conserve those
breeding areas in the north and wintering
areas to the south that migrating birds
require during their epic annual journeys.
As the Service seeks to understand the
causes of bird population declines and the
added complication of climate change, it will
follow the integrated process of monitoring
populations, understanding the dynamics of
why bird numbers change, and strategically
designing and implementing conservation
programs to address these changes.
Priority: Threatened and
Endangered Species
Achieving Recovery and Preventing
Extinction
Under the Endangered Species Act,
identifying species population and habitat
conservation goals and mapping a plan to
deliver those goals has been the heart of
candidate conservation and listed species
recovery planning. Conservation
of threatened and endangered species
will pose a particular challenge under
climate change.
Species unable to adapt to the new, rapidly
changing conditions will be less successful.
Because endangered and threatened
species are already surviving at the limits of
their ecological tolerance, the added stress
of changing climate creates the potential for
mass species extinctions.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change estimates (with medium confidence)
that approximately 20 – 30 percent of
species assessed so far are likely to be
at increased risk of extinction if global
average global temperatures rise more
than 1.5 – 2.5°C (relative to 1980 –1999).
If the increase exceeds about 3.5°C,
model projections suggest significant
extinctions (40 – 70 percent of species
assessed) around the globe.
As climate change expands the scale
and complexity of the challenges facing
candidate and listed species, landscape
conservation offers the conservation
community a way to identify, prioritize and
improve recovery efforts while remaining
responsive to changing threats and new
scientific information.
Some species, such as the American
Pika, are already surviving at the limits
of their ecological tolerance.
Priority: Connecting People
with Nature
Ensuring the Future of Conservation
Americans’ declining interaction with the
outdoors — particularly children growing up
in a digital age who prefer virtual reality to
natural reality — is a substantial challenge
to our conservation mission. In response to
this trend, the Service has joined a national
movement to expand opportunities for
people to get outside and become involved
with the natural world. Our challenge is not
simply reconnecting people with nature;
it is growing a national constituency for
conservation. Adapting the wide-ranging
elements of landscape planning will have
limited effect without strong public
support and participation and an American
public committed to the sustained future
of the natural world — particularly in a
changing climate.
From providing programs that educate
and inspire children to engaging a new
generation of citizen scientists who will help
us collect and interpret data to understand
species’ response to climate change, our
land base and our employees are helping
people of every age to get outdoors.
By connecting people with nature today
we are promoting healthy lifestyles
and improving the chances that future
generations will have an affinity for nature
and a concern for its conservation. Learn
more at < www.fws.gov/letsgooutside >.
Connecting people with nature also
helps connect them to the Service’s
conservation mission.
Water management is crucial for
sustainable habitats that support plants
and animals.
Priority: Aquatic Species
National Fish Habitat Action Plan
and Trust Species
Aquatic resources are declining at alarming
rates due to habitat loss, contaminants,
invasive species, overexploitation and
most recently, diseases — all of which are
exacerbated by climate change. Of about
800 native freshwater fish species in the
United States, 37 percent are in need of
conservation action. As fish habitats decline,
so do the numerous values they provide
for natural resources, human health and a
sound economy.
There is little doubt that water quality
and quantity may be the most important
conservation issues of the 21st century.
As our population and water use increase,
so do the competing needs of our cities,
agricultural areas and wildlife. Because
water connects all forms of life, conserving it
requires a landscape-level approach based
on action, cooperation and sound science.
In a changing climate, effective water
management will be of even greater
importance in sustaining habitats that
support plants and animals. The National
Fish Habitat Action Plan uses federal,
state and privately-raised funds to build
regional partnerships that target financial
and technical resources where they
can do the most good. The plan uses an
integrated landscape approach, linking
upland, aquatic and marine systems and
determining the condition of the nation’s
waters by classifying them based on
published landscape classification
systems and support for landscape-level
fisheries projects.
Mattamuskeet NWR, North Carolina Bald Eagle American Pika Brook Trout
Lyn Adams, Sr.
Alison Whitlock / usfws
Thomas G. Barnes
N.J. Stuart
Eric Engbretson
8 / Conservation in Transition: Leading Change in the 21st Century Conservation in Transition: Leading Change in the 21st Century / 9
10 / Conservation in Transition: Leading Change in the 21st Century Conservation in Transition: Leading Change in the 21st Century / 11
Conservation in Transition
Building Capacity
Vision without action is a dream.
Action without vision is simply
passing the time. Action with vision is
making a positive difference. Joel Barker
The Fish and Wildlife Service has a
reputation for getting things done,
which springs from our collective
commitment to service and the individual
dedication of thousands of conservation
professionals. Nearly a year ago, our
agency embarked to develop a strategic
plan to guide its climate change work and
chart a course of action. The strategy
focuses on adaptation (the management
actions we take to reduce the impacts of
climate change on fish, wildlife, plants
and their habitats), mitigation (human
intervention to reduce the sources or
enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases)
and education. In the year ahead we
will move quickly to identify knowledge
gaps and expand our work with partners
to effectively anticipate and address
climate change. These steps grow
from and build upon our decisions to
implement the SHC framework for
landscape conservation, and support
our transition strategy and our climate
change strategic and action plans now
being developed. No amount of vision and
planning, however, can succeed without
the capacity to equip our employees with
necessary skills, technologies, funding
and leadership support to achieve our
conservation mission.
Mirroring elements of the SHC
framework, we have identified key
investments to support this vision.
We will build additional core capacity
in biological planning and conservation
design to identify landscapes, habitats
and species that are most vulnerable to
climate change, define clear conservation
objectives, and focus our management
actions most effectively. We will work
with partners to target our conservation
delivery to accomplish these objectives,
focusing on building connectivity to
support population-level adaptations to
changing climate. We will establish and
implement new monitoring programs
and refine existing ones in order to
implement adaptive management and
test and improve our conservation
hypotheses.
Biological Planning and
Conservation Design
Through the actions described above,
we will identify clear objectives and
acquire valuable information and design
strategies necessary to meet them. This
will include determining priority species,
formulating population objectives for
those species, assessing species’ status
and trends and associated limiting
factors, and developing models to
help explain and predict the changing
relationships between species and
their habitats.
Implementing this vision requires
expertise from many disciplines:
conservation biologists to prescribe a
genetically viable population objective;
ecologists to define the population-habitat
relationships and limiting
factors; modelers to help inter-relate
all these variables; GIS specialists to
identify potential sites for protection or
management; land-use planners to input
zoning and land ownership data; field
biologists to ground-truth assumptions
and outcomes; and climate change
experts to predict large-scale ecological
changes that will drive habitat conditions
and population response.
This vision requires understanding
the relationship between project-scale
actions and larger landscape-scale
objectives; shifting focus from
outputs such as stream miles restored,
or migration barriers removed, to
explicit outcomes such as sustainable
populations; and emphasizing the
predicted impacts of climate change. To
achieve the latter, we will need capacity
to model and predict fish and wildlife
population responses to direct changes
in temperature and precipitation, and to
indirect changes resulting from human
activities in response to a changing
climate. We will need improved and
increased research and monitoring to test
assumptions about ecosystem changes
that have no precedent.
To build these capacities and drive
these changes, we envision an initial
investment to establish a network of
Landscape Conservation Cooperatives.
These cooperatives will house shared
expertise and capacity among Service
programs and between partners from
Armed with the capacities outlined in
this document, the Service will support
development of renewable energy sources
while avoiding population-level
effects on fish and wildlife resources.
diego vaires
other federal agencies, states, tribes,
universities, businesses and private
citizens. The Service will act not as owner
or operator of these cooperatives, but
as a catalyst and participant. We will
offer opportunity for co-location with
existing Service facilities and equal
eagerness to co-locate Service employees
and assets at partner facilities. In some
cases, employees and assets of many
partners will be networked between
remote locations using technology.
Our vision is not one of buildings and
bricks-and-mortar; but rather, it is one
of building capacity to define and pursue
conservation at broader scales. Because
our collective need for these capacities
and technologies far outweighs our
individual abilities to invest in them,
a collaborative approach is essential
to success.
Conservation Delivery
Climate change and other emerging
natural resources threats demand
immediate response. As we stimulate
and build new capacities through
mechanisms like Landscape
Conservation Cooperatives, there are
many actions that can be taken now.
We propose bolstering existing
delivery capacities to leverage habitat
protection, restoration, enhancement
and management activities to begin
addressing the most pressing and
obvious effects of changing climate and
to identify and begin experimenting with
adaptation options. In addition, we will
take steps to lead by example in reducing
our carbon footprint, and to provide
education on the causes and effects of
a changing climate to fish and wildlife
resources. Specific measures include:
n Developing objectives to assess,
measure and deliver landscape
connectivity through land acquisition,
easements, fish passage and cooperative
habitat restoration with private
landowners;
n Acquiring priority refuge and hatchery
water rights needed to meet objectives
for climate-vulnerable species. Water
management will be a key factor in
helping waterbirds and aquatic species
respond to changes in precipitation.
Availability of sufficient water to
operate the Service’s fish hatcheries
and wildlife refuges is fundamental to
mission success, and we will identify
and build strategies for particularly
vulnerable facilities;
n Implementing conservation plans
for priority species. The Service works
extensively with partners to write and
implement conservation plans that
prescribe specific action items, timelines
and responsible parties;
n Intensifying assessment of population
status and trends, reducing disturbance,
mitigating development-related impacts
and adaptively managing for optimal
sustainable populations of ice-dependent
species as Arctic sea ice diminishes;
n Reducing the Service’s carbon
footprint by restructuring our vehicle
fleet, emphasizing energy conservation
and managing employee travel;
n Extending our engagement in
international climate negotiations
and treaties, and in international
conservation supporting species
adaptations; and
n Implementing a comprehensive
communications plan to support the
Service’s Strategic Approach to Climate
Change at all levels of the Service.
Conservation Research
and Monitoring
To maximize efficiency, new Service
research and monitoring efforts will be
integrated with partners such as the U.S.
Geological Survey, state wildlife agencies
and key conservation organizations,
which will:
n Monitor how changes in temperatures
and precipitation alter existing
ecosystems and species-habitat
relationships. This includes expanding
our partnership in the National
Phenology Network and our efforts to
connect people with nature by engaging
a new generation of citizen scientists
who will help us collect and interpret
data to understand species’ response to a
changing climate;
n Conduct applied research to test
assumptions in peer-reviewed fish and
wildlife models. Historical climate,
population and habitat conditions are
not necessarily indicative of future
conditions. Assumptions will have to be
refined in order for models to predict
outcomes accurately, and management
actions will have to be adapted to the
revised scenarios in order to yield
predicted results; and
n Evaluate the response of populations to
management actions. Resource managers
will have to quickly assess the population
response to their actions and adjust
management techniques and strategies to
achieve desired outcomes. For example,
as we take specific actions to manage
climate-vulnerable species such as
polar bear, we will need to quickly assess
their effect and adapt management
strategies as conditions change.
Climate change and other emerging natural resources threats
demand immediate response.
12 / Conservation in Transition: Leading Change in the 21st Century
Conservation in Transition
Moving Forward
We do not inherit the Earth
from our ancestors;
we borrow it from our children.
Origin Uncertain
Viewed collectively, the conservation
challenges of the 21st century seem
staggering. But our history is one of
overcoming adversity through the power
of innovation, diligence and a strong
sense of purpose.
Dr. Ira Gabrielson, the first Director
of the Fish and Wildlife Service,
exemplified these traits. In the midst
of the Depression and Dust Bowl,
Gabrielson oversaw a nearly fourfold
expansion of the Refuge System —
from 63 refuges when he took over as
Director to 210 by the time he retired.
In 1939, he helped create the Patuxent
Research Refuge — the only wildlife
refuge dedicated to research; and in
1943, Gabrielson wrote Wildlife Refuges,
the definitive book on the Refuge
System. In the book, he wrote, “The
conservation battle cannot be a short,
sharp engagement, but must be grim,
tenacious warfare — the sort that makes
single gains and then consolidates
these gains until renewed strength and
a good opportunity make another
advance possible.”
Today, the Service continues to make
“single gains” but often falls short in
consolidating them. We now see that
broad-scale challenges like climate
change threaten to diminish these
advances if we are not mindful in building
the type of capacities called for in
this document. The kind of change we
envision is never easy, and it will not
take place quickly or without sacrifice.
But we must realize we are not only
working for those who place their trust
in us today; we are working for our
children and future generations who
someday will inherit the job of protecting
our natural resources.
Indeed, conservation is in transition.
But change presents an opportunity for
leadership to build on the great traditions
of our past and help shape our future
legacy. This is why the women and men
of the Fish and Wildlife Service have
chosen a career of public service — to
deal with issues of consequence and make
a difference for our nation. Together
with our partners, and with the support
of visionary leaders, we can face the
challenges of our time and change the
future for the better.
Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge National Elk Refuge
J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge
canvasback ducks ilustration: T ferns: jane peciloto; pecilans: George Gentry; purple asters: Thomas G. Barnes im knepp; cacit: usfws; elk: Glen smart
The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service is working with others to conserve,
protect and enhance fish, wildlife, plants
and their habitats for the continuing
benefit of the american people.
We are both a leader and trusted partner
in fish and wildlife conservation, known
for our scientific excellence, stewardship
of lands and natural resources, dedicated
professionals and commitment to public
service. For more information on our
work and the people who make it happen,
visit www.fws.gov.